Diamondbacks move to 5 games over .500 with win vs. Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — Merrill Kelly pitched seven innings in what he thought was his sharpest start of the season, while Ketel Marte led the Arizona Diamondbacks’ offense with three RBIs in a 6-2 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Memorial Day Monday.

The D-backs improved to 9-2 through 11 games against the Colorado Rockies and Giants and 29-24 overall. They have won four straight games against the Giants to start the season series after sweeping their division foes at home last week.

Arizona was last five games over .500 at 13-8 on April 18. With a Chicago Cubs loss on Monday, the D-backs moved into the third National League Wild Card spot with merely 109 games to play.

Ketel Marte, Corbin Carroll keep streaks alive

Marte extended his hitting streak to nine games with four knocks at Oracle Park, his third straight game with three-plus hits.

The last Diamondbacks players with three hits in three straight games were Marte last June, Marte in 2019 (twice), Eduardo Escobar in 2019 and Paul Goldschmidt in 2018.

His batting average has jumped from .209 on May 15 to .275, as no one in MLB has a higher average over the past 15 days than his .444.

You simply cannot stop Ketel Marte. pic.twitter.com/Krxh1WapPU

— Arizona Diamondbacks (@Dbacks) May 25, 2026

“I think everybody in this clubhouse, everybody who’s watched him for however many years now knew he wasn’t going to hit .205 all year,” Kelly said. “Baseball is a game of peaks and valleys.”

And none of his hits on Monday were rockets, either. He experienced a bit of fortune after much of his season was defined by hard-hit outs.

Corbin Carroll also pushed his hitting streak forward to 13 games with two singles, the longest active hit streak in the big leagues.

Gabriel Moreno hit a solo home run to put the D-backs on the board in the second inning, while Geraldo Perdomo and Adrian Del Castillo drove in runs, as well.

Arizona finished with 11 hits, double figures for a third straight game.

Merrill Kelly efficient vs. Giants

Kelly allowed two earned runs on four hits in his seven innings of work, as he has thrown four straight quality starts.

That includes a complete game against the Rockies, but Kelly felt even better about his effort on Monday.

“Overall, the way it was feeling coming out of my hand, I would say it was sharper than it has been,” Kelly said. “I just think we’ve hammered down on some things mechanically and pitch selection-wise, and I think that’s just a culmination of putting in work every day to try to feel better and better.”

Kelly hardly ran into much trouble, facing the minimum three hitters in four of his first five innings.

The Giants scored both runs in the fourth inning on a two-run double from Rafael Devers to take a 2-1 lead. A near-Carroll highlight catch almost avoided that jam, but the ball bounced off his mitt in deep right field.

Manager Torey Lovullo mentioned that walking Devers was considered, especially if he reached a certain count. But Kelly retired the next seven batters to get back on the attack.

Kelly needed 27 pitches in the fourth but did not throw more than 16 in any other inning.

“Merrill was fantastic. And despite maybe a hiccup or two, he was just dominant,” Lovullo said. “He went out there and just threw the ball where he wanted to, mixed it up, changed speeds front-to-back, side-to-side. It couldn’t have been any better.”

Quick response

To Kelly’s delight, the Diamondbacks got those runs back immediately, as they took advantage of shotty Giants defense.

Arizona scored three runs in the fifth inning after a Willy Adames throwing error put the lead-off man aboard, with Marte contributing an RBI double looped to left field on a misplayed ball from Casey Schmidt.

The D-backs piled on two more runs on a Marte single in the sixth to keep the Giants at arm’s length for the rest of the game.

Jonathan Loaisiga and Brandyn Garcia finished San Francisco off out of the bullpen.

What happened when Ketel Marte passed Tommy Troy?

There was a quirky moment in the eighth inning, as Marte (the batter) was called out for passing Tommy Troy (the lead runner on first base) on the base paths. Marte blooped a fly ball to right field, and outfielder Drew Gilbert slid to make the catch. Troy saw the slide and the ball hit Gilbert’s glove and took off back to first base.

The ball skipped off Gilbert’s glove, and Marte and Troy ended up in a precarious position. The initial call had Marte safe, but the Giants challenged and won.

https://twitter.com/MLBReplays/status/2059060878335492403?s=20

“I know that the player has to completely pass, they have to pass one another, and I’ll probably go in here and look at it from a high overhead and see if they did completely cross,” Lovullo said. “MLB is very good at detecting it, so I’m sure they saw it right. But what did I see? I saw a very eager Tommy Troy try to get the play right instead of just letting it unfold before him and then react.”

“When I thought he was going to catch it, I’m like, I’m off too far,” Troy explained. “I need to get back to first, and then I put my head down. That’s where I made the mistake, and I look up, and Ketel’s right there.”

Diamondbacks-Giants Tuesday probables

Eduardo Rodriguez (4–1, 2.24 ERA) will pitch for Arizona on Tuesday, while the Giants will start right-hander Tyler Mahle (1–6, 6.10 ERA).

Mahle faced the Diamondbacks at Chase Field last week, allowing six earned runs in five innings.

The game will start at 6:45 p.m. MST on 98.7 and the Arizona Sports app.

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